MONTAGUE — The Montague Fire Department hosted a retirement gathering Monday afternoon for Dan Roesler, who stepped down after 46 years in the department, most recently as assistant fire chief.
Roesler is just one of many members of his family who has served in the department. Dan's father Don was also an assistant chief, and served for even longer than Dan did - 52 years, a mark Dan often told Don he was not going to try to top.
However, the Roesler connection to Montague Fire will be continuing going forward, with Dan's nephews Drew and Dennis II moving into the assistant fire chief and captain positions respectively. (The captain position was recently vacated by longtime firefighter Jonathon Degen - also the White Lake Ambulance Authority director - who was appointed fire chief after Ron Anderson stepped down from that position.)
Cake, cupcakes and punch flowed freely at the gathering as well-wishers, coworkers and family members came by to honor Dan Roesler's years of service.
Dan said he began his fire department career as a volunteer while in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Florida. He worked for the department in Milton, and after his service ended and he moved back to Montague, decided, "What the heck," and joined the department here while also working for the Michigan State Police, from which he retired in 2016.
He felt the time was right to retire from the fire department, saying, "It's a young man's job. It just takes a lot out of you, getting up in the middle of the night and going on calls, carrying people up and down stairs. Enough is enough."
Drew Roesler said it is a tribute to Dan and his devotion to service that he was able to continue in that "young man's job" for so many years, saying repetition and training helped keep him sharp.
"We train twice a month," Drew said. "We go through drills. We go through equipment. We keep ourselves familiar. We run, on average, 500 calls a year, so having the opportunity to go through and touch the equipment and go out and practice drills and stuff help us to keep our skill sets up. That's how I think, over those 46 years, he's been a part of so many trainings and helped to keep himself as sharp as he could."
Dan said it was a point of pride that the next generation of Roeslers have also moved into the fire department life - in addition to Drew and Dennis II, another nephew, Drake, is now a lieutenant with the department, as is his own son Daniel II - noting that it's a job you have to be devoted to in order to be good at it.
Service is in the Roesler blood, said Drew, who is also the Montague Township clerk. Drew's father Dennis was fire chief himself for 16 years.
"I grew up with it in the household," Drew said. "I just took the opportunity to join alongside my family and friends, and to provide the service to the community is the biggest part that I enjoy. I live in town here. To be able to serve with friends, it's a proud moment to help someone out."
Drew said he feels like he grew up at Montague Fire, so while not everyone there is a blood relation - even though it can sometimes seem like it - it feels very much like a branch of his family.
"We are all family," Drew said. "We have people that have raised me in this fire station, and I've known them my entire life. There's a lot of people with 40 years in the department who are still here today, and I'm 40 years old. So they've raised me from a very young age, and I feel very comfortable being at a scene with them, and I have a lot of trust in their ability."
In addition to the veterans on staff, the recent graduations of Maddison Balon, Kaylan Easton, and Kendal Degen from the fire academy bring some fresh perspective to the department, providing a good mix to the department.
"We have a really good working relationship, and it's a good level of experience with some younger generation bringing fresh ideas," Drew said. "They're bringing some of these new things to us, which is important. As things evolve, you have to keep up on stuff and they're very knowledgeable because they've been through the training more recently."
